Jess's Box
by atram
Summary: PostThe Prodigal Daughter Returns. A missing scene after the episode, Rory thinks about Jess


**Disclaimer: **Because apparently people might think I own something. Hardy har har, you crack me up. Don't own the characters or anything in relation to the show. So don't sue. I might cry.

**Authors Note: **So, first fic ever. Read, review...be harsh if you want to. Really. I welcome it. Try not to make me cry, but give me your opinion. I love honesty. Also, if you see any spelling errors let me know. I'm not totally sure where this came from, just always annoyed me that we saw Rory make a big deal out of Dean's box, but there was never a Jess box to be found. So I made one. Hey, can I own that? Okay, to the story now...

Rory awoke and glanced over at her sleeping mother. She was curled up at the opposite end of the couch, a blanket tucked around her. Rory looked to the T.V, now a blue screen, showing that she had fallen asleep for the last part of the movie. Her eyes fell on the empty bags of candy and boxes of pizza. She and her mother had really gone all out for this movie night. With good reason too. It had been their first in five months, 3 weeks and sixteen days, and that certainly deserved a celebration.

She looked over again at her mother and smiled, then stood up slowly as to not disturb her. She quietly made her way to her room. She gently pushed open the door and flicked on the light. Normally she would have collapsed on to her bed, but something had been bugging her all night. She opened her closet door and knelt down, her hands trying to feel for the box. She pulled one out, but just by feeling the lighter weight she knew it wasn't his. She looked at it in the light and saw the name Dean written on it. She pushed in aside and pulled out the next one. It had no label but she knew it was the right one. She sat down on the floor and opened the top flaps.

Rory peered into the box and pulled out the first item. It was a picture of them taken in her garage while Lane's band had been practicing. They were both sitting on stools close to each other, with his arm around her lower back. His head was turned to look at her and she was laughing, Rory hadn't even realized the picture had been taken, until Lane gave it to her. She never forgot what her friend said to her then. "Well he doesn't suck." They both laughed a bit and she knew that her friend was okay with him now. Rory ran her fingers over the frame and stared at his face. She had always loved the way he was looking at her. He had on a smirk and his eyes happy. She couldn't help but smile when she looked at it. She placed the photo on the floor next to her and picked up the next item.

It was her cast. A piece of paper fluttered out of it which she knew to be her bus ticket to New York. She let the ticket fall to the floor as she stared at the cast. After the car had crashed he stayed right there with her until the paramedics came to take her away. He asked her countless times if she was okay and refused to talk to the police until he knew she really would be. Rory remembered how hurt she felt when he left for New York with out a goodbye, but that was nothing compared to the second time. She put the cast down and picked up the ticket that had fallen out. She remembered that trip so well and although she missed her mother's graduation, deep down she knew she didn't regret it. She smiled as she thought of the record store and how he teased her of being an out of towner. She tucked the ticket into the frame of the picture for safe keeping and moved on to the next one.

The fabric was silky in her hands. She pulled out the dress and let it lay in her lap. It held on to so many emotions and memories. Happiness; for Sookie and Jackson's marriage, sadness; for her father's empty promises and excitement and confusion for him. She had been so startled when she saw him standing there by the pond. When he said he decided to come back she hoped with all her heart that it was because of her. The dress also held guilt, for the kiss that wasn't with her boyfriend. But the guilt was washed away by happiness when he had kissed her back. Smiling, Rory gently folded the dress and laid it beside her.

Before she even saw what she had pulled out she knew what it was. A small, lightweight paperback book that had caused her to be fascinated by him. She stared at the simple black and white cover, with the word _Howl_ printed boldly across it. She remembered the first time they met vividly. She remembered him saying he didn't read much, only to later admit that he had read it almost 40 times. She remembered her amazement when she read what he had written in the margins. She also thought to how hard she cried the night he left, when she absentmindedly picked the book up. The moment her eyes say the handwriting on the side of the page she crawled into bed and cried her eyes out while her mother comforted her. That morning she woke up and started this very box, throwing this and other books he had written in into the box. She had then re-bought those books so she could look at them without a pang of sadness. She had pretended for almost a year that it didn't hurt. But now, when she read what he had written she smiled at his brilliant mind.

Next, she pulled out a tee shirt, black with "The Distillers" written across it. At the beginning of the night she had been mad at him. Mad at him for not realizing he needed to call sometimes, mad at Dean for spoiling her with always calling. But when she saw him sitting on the hood of his car in that dejected sort of way she couldn't stay mad at him. He had bought her that tee shirt and had taken her out to get pizza afterwards. They argued about authors and music till they agreed to disagree. When he kissed her goodnight she felt truly happy. It still amazed her today how quickly things had changed. She put the tee shirt on top of the dress and continued.

The plasticy-wood was smooth in her hands. She pulled out the small basket that heaved with weight. She remembered when he gave it back to her. He had said some smart mouthed comment and handed it back to her. When she opened it she found a book in it she had never even heard of. When Rory opened it now, she saw the Hemmingway book she bought the day of the Bid-A-Basket and various other books he had borrowed from her or she borrowed from him but never returned. She looked through the titles, finding Please Kill Me, Kaddish, The Holy Barbarians and others. There was the Shaggs CD she forgot to return after she burned a copy. She remembered each and every time the books had been exchanged, the arguments and discussions over each one. That was something she had never been able to do with anyone before and it was one of the things she missed most about him.

Stuck in between the pages of one of the books was a folded up piece of paper. She pulled it out and unfolded it. It was the letter she had never sent in Washington. She never finished it. As soon as she started she no longer knew what to say. She had kept putting it off until it was too late. Would things have been different? If she had given him a sing would he had waited for her? It didn't really matter now she reminded herself. She folded the paper back up and looked at what was remaining in the box. There was that silly stuffed animal from the Winter Carnival, more books, some movies and more CDs. There were some random objects too, with no literal connection to him, but when she saw them she saw his face.

She smiled a little and stood up, walking back to the living room. She turned off the TV and went to her bag. She pulled out the slim, black book and carried it back to her room. She curled up on her bed and flipped through till she reached her spot. She smiled again and thought that for the first time in a long time, things were alright.


End file.
